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Allow me to describe my setup. Every morning I wake up, put on the water for tea, grab something near to eat, and head to my office. My comp is next to a big window which I try to keep open as much as possible. Aside from a few chipmunks that like to play outside, I've also a neighborhood bully (it's a squirrel), that will probably soon be trapped because he's found his way into my walls. But for now, he's part of the routine, as is this fantastic fall breeze that has accompanied the official Fall season. You'd think it was clockwork how well that was all synced. Slight chill, a big bright sun, and everything wilting and changing colors around me. I love summer, probably more than the others, but when Autumn arrives, its always welcome.
Music this week from Foo Fighters, Free Energy, the dude with the mustache from The Hold Steady, the dude from The Strokes, Mike Doughty (aka, the dude from Soul Coughing), Langhorne Slim, The Drums... so much more. Its a pretty great way to spend your day. Just push play.
Real Ones – Every Dog Has Its Day
Its sometimes daunting when you realize how many songs are out there. Even more so when you realize how many songs might have been professionally created for mass consumption. The important thing to remember is that you just can’t hear them all and you can only hope that the cream rises. Of course, sometimes its just a bit of luck. All of this to say that there isn’t much of a reason I should have heard this song. It’s a Norwegian band without any presence in the U.S. aside from a couple very small, obscure blog references. Somehow, in the middle of mass downloading, it appeared on my comp and became one of my favorites of the week. I seriously hope to hear more from Real Ones soon.
Foo Fighters – Wheels
They’ve got it. They’re well into the chapter in their life where other bands are compared to them. Bands with that “Foo Fighters sound”. So its no surprise that while this may be a by-the-books rock song, it’s a near perfect anthem. I’ve been mentioning lately that you can easily sing Tom Petty’s “Learning To Fly” with it, but that still doesn’t take away from its own merits. It’s a great song. Its an instant classic for the band. Grab it as one of the two new tracks on their well deserved Greatest Hits coming out next month.
Free Energy – Something In Common
A Philadelphia band on the brink of hitting the big time. Bright lights, late night VIP parties, underwear shots, celebrity girlfriends… that whole thing. The disc isn’t out until next year, so in the meantime, they’ve released a 7” with this track as the b-side. While the A side lends itself more to 70’s AM guitar rock, this flip side here feels more like Islands.
Guignol & Mischief Brew – Fight Dirty
Gypsy-punk. What a fantastic mash-up of genres. Giognol have been around for a while now – it’s the project of Franz Nicolay from The Hold Steady – but may not be set aside much longer. This is a pretty easy like due to its uniqueness, so enjoy easily, and grab the disc now.
Real Estate – Beach Comber
Enjoyable, simple but probably not too memorable by the end of it. With that said though, I still find myself hitting the play button on it.
Julian Casablacas – 11th Dimension
Julian is the lead singer of The Strokes. This is cool and all – his debut solo disc Phrazes For The Young – but will you please ask him to get back into the studio and finish up that new Strokes album? Had it been done and released when all over the other Strokes were releasing their side bands and solo discs it would have been one thing. But we’re a few years without now and its just getting silly. More Strokes, yeah?
Mike Doughty – Casper The Friendly Ghost
While his new album Sad Man Happy Man eyes its Oct release date, and his official, first single “Doubly” pops across radio stations nationwide, we’re given this great Daniel Johnston cover as a web freebie. Mike is one of the great talents out there that doesn’t always get the right credit. This new LP gives you all the chance to recognize.
Landhorne Slim – Say Yes
With Monsters of Folks making sure that you “Say Please” and now Langhorne telling you to “Say Yes” it seems that modern folk / indie-cana are demanding optimism (!!!). Do what the song tells ya. Say Yes, and also check out his track “I Love You But Goodbye” from the same new album. Definitely digging that.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Higher Than The Stars
I like this band, but it’s hard to get totally behind them. Maybe its like cream candy: Tastes great but way too sweet and quickly gets to be too much after only a few bites. Regardless, if you are a fan, it’s a good year. A full length, some singles, and now this EP.
Land of Talk – May You Never
It takes a moment to take off, but when it does, it really flies. This one is a BIIIIG web favorite right now built off of their debut discs popularity, that the band toured with Broken Social Scene, and that the former guitarist, Chris McCarron left to join The Dears. Not a bad way to come back.
Pretty Good Dance Moves – Leave Me Alone
It’s easy to get annoyed with someone when they continue to pop up everywhere. Case in point: Bjorn from PB&J fame. Fortunately, I can only feel the annoyance right up until the point the song starts, because at that point, its usually pretty great. Here, Bjorn is helping out this Chicago duo on their new LP, both in production and guesting. It’s a good dance song with a pretty infectious chorus, “If you don’t leave me along I will find somebody who will.”
Girls – Life In San Francisco
Blog Land luuuuvs the new Girls album. I like their BJ Thomas tribute at the beginning of the song. It’s a nice dozer, like when you just wake up all warm but knowing that there is only cold outside of the covers. Find this track as their latest b-side.
Dead Man’s Bones – In The Room Where You Sleep
How do you mix dust bowl era goth with surf organ? Ask actor Ryan Gossling. He does it successfully here on the latest leak from his forthcoming disc under the DMB moniker. This is not only the most interesting of actor-bands, but really is one of the most interesting projects out there period. Its got a quirky sound, but never feels contrived. And its definitely built for the season. Salem – Frost
The latest deep 80’s electro throwback that sounds like it would have fit right in on some dark film soundtrack. The only thing that separates it from the others is that this is the one everyone is talking about this week.
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The Weekly Feed is distributed by WFPK and Louisville Public Media. Produced and hosted by Kyle Meredith. Make sure to say hi, yeah?
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